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Saturday, June 30, 2012

A unique way to display and use your babies new born hats and burp cloths. Make a pillow!

I got these burp cloths when I was pregnant. They were so cute and soft I could not resist. That was before I knew what was really needed in burp cloths and promptly switched to cloth diapers for a burp cloth like all the other Mom's out there. I just loved these little ones that I had thought, because they are so cute and soft. I looked at them trying to figure out what I could make with them and thought, PILLOW?!

Get to seam ripping, make a small hole to put your filling in. I had to remove a tag so I used the spot that the tag was located.

Step 2

Stuff your soon to be pillow, fill it up very well so it wont flatten out when your baby lays on it.Step 3

Pin the little hole and stitch it closed with a needle and threadTIP
A little liquid stitch will help prevent the old thread from unraveling, JUST A DAB!

You could use the glue to close the pillow if you are especially lazy

Step 4
This step is optional in your pillow making process.

Attach your cute matching New Born hat to what ever side of your pillow you like. I could not decide, so I pined it to both sides and looked and thought and looked and thought. I chose the blue side and I did not have a thread that I liked so I used a few stitches on the bottom layer of the hat for the photos. If I had the correct thread I would use a Whipstitch.

And that is it! A super easy way to make a pillow and show of a baby hat of yours! Hope you enjoyed this tutorial

Monday, June 25, 2012

How to Refashion Your Shoes into Bright Polka Dot Shoes

One day when I was being super productive researching important things on Pintrest, I came across this shoe , it was pinned by Amy Anderson of Mof Podge Rocks(She always has the best pins!) I loved the pair and looked into buying them. The shoe is made by Poetic Licence and they make a bunch of cute shoes, however this one was sold out. When I saw the price on the other ones and took into consideration that I don't have a job and have a new baby and a bad back... I thought maybe I should try and make them! So I did and I am going to show you how did it, so you can make them too! Ok then lets get started!

1. Tape the shoes with painters tape making sure to cover any place you don't want to spray paint.

2. Spray with primer.

3. Paint. I did 3 very thin coats(Thin coats help prevent drips)

*Tip- Primer is not always unnecessary but it helps the paint to stick better, look better last longer and helps with drastic color changes. So you don't have to use it. The thing is if you skip this step and find that it was needed you will have a long road of sanding and crying. So to be on the safe side, take the extra time to prime your shoes.

Step 4
Paint the dots

Paint the big pink and white dots. I used these awesome things to do my dot painting with. I had to order mine because we don't have a craft store for 45 miles. I ordered a mixed pack and I was so impressed with them, I don't think I will go back to using the black ones for painting. A round stamp or something like that might also work. Just be sure to dip it in the paint then a practice stamp on paper to get rid of the excess, then on the shoe.

*Tip- If any of your spots turn out like this(see photo below)Touch them up with a paint brush.

Step 5Hand paint the little dots on the strap

I think the little dots are my favorite part

The inspiration had cute little dots on the strap. I used a small paint brush and dipped it in white paint then right on to the shoe(no getting rid of the excess on paper)

Step 6(I know this tutorial has a lot more steps than my usual easy tutorials, but were almost done)
Paint with a clear coat of Mod Podge, I used a gloss to make the shoes nice and shiny!
This helps to seal the acrylic paint onto the spay paint so it want chip off as well as giving a gloss to the finish

JUST LOOK AT THAT SHINE!

ONE LAST STEP!
Ok I thought I done and went in to my yard taking a bunch of photos, excited to type up my post. When I up loaded the pictures and looked at them I though what is that uuugly button?

Last step, step 7
Attach a button
I chose a button from my stash that looked most like the inspiration picture. I just cut of the old button and hot glued the new one down. Depending on what your shoe looks like, you may have to get a little creative on how to attach it.

Well friends that is it! Its pretty simple to fallow the steps. You just need to talk you time with the painting. Making sure you don't over load your brush because that will deform your dots. You want to use a nice spray paint like I did to help prevent any drips. I really hope you enjoyed this tutorial and if you have any questions please ask!

Monday, June 18, 2012

How to refashion a baby gown into a new pair of baby pajamas

Today's tutorial is a very easybaby gown refashion. I am going to show you step by step how to make an old baby gown into new baby short and top set. My little man loves it!(I can read his mind)

Before a size 0-3month gown, after 12 month short set

I know that the thought of having to sew somthing can be intemadating. It can lead you in a quest of "the No-sew-refashions" I try and post a lot of them, to help ease you intimidated seamstresses into the idea of having to sew. Well this project dose require some sewing and no you probably can't get away with stitch witchery. Believe me it will only take you 5 minuets with a needle and thread, you can do it.
Ok lets get started then!

You will Need

I love how soft this is, but baby T hated that he can't crawl in it

I picked a baby gown that had soft fabric that would work perfect for the baby to sleep in with out getting over heated. I used one that said size 0-3 and it refashioned in a size 12 month.

Step 1

Lay a top that has a length you like and a pair of shorts that fit your baby well on top of the baby gown. Put the waist of the shorts at the elastic on the bottom of the gown(this elastic will become the top of the shorts) Mark with chalk under the top.

Step 2

CHOP!

Step 3

Make a small cut in the new shorts, pin and sew(the sewing was so minimal I did it by hand!) It was only about 20 stitches!That means that you, yes you can do it!

Step 4

Fold up the arms and legs to make the appropriate length for your baby. Put a few stitches in the folds to help keep the hems up. I then used a little piece of the old trim as a embellishment on the sleeves.(see below) * Safety Tip When adding anything to baby clothing be sure to stitch it very well and always check that it is still stitched down well when laundering the garment.

For safety make sure to sew down anything you put on baby clothing VERY well and check often for loose threads.

Now his legs are free to crawl, he loved staying up late with me taking pictures.

This picture is so funny, He was very happy to show of the new jammies

He sure had fun being my model for the day!

Thank you so much for looking at my blog today. I love you for it! Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment, That way I know people are actually reading this. If you have any questions ask away!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

How to paint suede shoes, an easy shoe Refashion

Shoe refashion

Well...this is my before and after photo, they look even worse than I remember! These Sued flats were in serious need of a shoe redo! A little fun fact about me, shoes was my first word. So as you can imagine these old nine west's needed a face lift!

I had some suede leather shoes and suede is fun to paint!

Step 1
Paint the shoes, let dry (fabric, acrylic or spray paint will all work, test a section on your specific fabric)
*Tip When painting suede, I have learned that it works best if you use a small amount of paint and work it into the leather. Instead of "on top" of the leather.Step 2
Add shine with Gloss Mod Podge to the trim and let that dry.

I painted the shoes then after they dry I added a thick layer of Mod Podge

TA-DASo what do you think of my easy peasy how to paint refashion?

This is a nice simple easy shoe refashion. I like it... I wanted to LOVE it

You could stop here and be done. I seriously considered it. So you can do that if you want, but I wanted to show you how with a few more easy steps you can take this easy shoe redo one step further.

Ready? Alright part two of the easy shoe refashion

Step 3
Make an embeliment for your updated shoes.
I think the picture shows how best but I will try and describe how to make the easy shoe embellishment.

Use a long head pin, load it up with ribbon. (I used this double ruffled ribbon) When you work your way half way through, loading the headpin(in a sewing fashion) add a button. Then continue to load the ribbon on to the head pin.

When your all done cut the Ribbon. form a circle out of your ribbon, fold the wire as shown in the photo and attach to the shoe as shown in the photo!

And your done! TA-DA then you have a pair of flats that can be worn two different ways.

This is how the flats will look with the embellishment attached, but if you want to go more simple...

Then you can just pull of the ribbon!Go simple. So this is like two new shoes in one!

So what do you think? I love this refashion, I think it worked out so good! Even my boyfriend liked them, well he didn't say that. I could tell because he usually says "that looks good too" or "both ways are fine, I don't CARE!" when I ask him about my refashions. But when he saw these (I didn't even ask) But today he asked, "How did you paint those?" "Is that going to be your post today?" "I never even knew that they made fabric paint!"

So if baby daddy is excited about the refashion, then well you should be too. ;) I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial about how to paint suede shoes and refashion them into something fabulous.

Monday, June 11, 2012

I'm nominated for the Illuminating Blogger Award

What a surprise! Me, nominated for the Illuminating Blogger award?! I was nominated by Raquel from The Organized Island. I need to give Raquel a huge THANK YOU!(and a hug if I could reach) This nomination is very exciting for me. Raquel really made my day week with this! I promise to keep coming up with "Illuminating" content for my readers to enjoy. I hope that my readers will keep reading.

Well as you can guess after being nominated I must do something to WIN. What are those things I must do? Well I am glad you asked. I went over to food stories blog (the blog offering the award) to find out. I had two main things.

Thing Number 1The first thing I must do is share one random thing about myself with you in this blog post. I think this is a good idea. Good call food stories blog!

This was very hard for me to come up with, I guess because I have had a lot of strange things happen to me. The random fact about me I decided to go with...is that I stopped taking portraits for a living room back when film was the main way to take photos.(I never thought digital would take off) I sure do miss the years I spent in the dark room Dodging and burning and sometimes napping :)

Thing Number 2 The second thing that I need to do is select at least fives other bloggers that I enjoy and nominate them for the Illuminating Blogger Award. The page says "many people indicate that they wish they could nominate more so please feel free to nominate all your favorites".

Yes It was hard to pick, yes they say feel free to nominate all my favorites, but that would be way too much. I needed to draw the line some place. For once in my life not wanting to be overly ridiculous; I went with 10 of my favorite blogs. I nominated them all for differentreasons, but what ever the reason is they all inspire and illuminate me.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

This is probably the fastest refashion I have ever done. I guess it is more of a update than a refashion. Some how all these easy refashions make me feel like I am not realy trying. Like since my refashions are no -sew then they don't count. I am luck that this one was fast and easy because I had to battle with my computer all day. I finely just deleted firefox and moved to Google Chrome, so far so good. Firefox was getting worse and worse overtime I updated it.

Ok moving on to my refashion.

I bought this shirt on 99cent day at The Salvation Army. I got it because love this color, I am so glad its back "on"!

Love the color

However the sleeves on this shirt are way to small for me. See how they dig in and are very unflatering!

Uncomfy to say the least

So I just hacked the sleeves off!

Now I have a halter top for the summer time

I did not leave enough extra to sew the edge and this type of fabric will frey. So I went for my very fave...stitch witchery. To fix up the arm holes.

So what do you think? I like it, I just don't know. I think it still needs a little something. I feel a little to "mom" in this, well see. Maybe with the vest I will feel good!